Automated systems and methods for managing the placement process for securing insurance coverage

ABSTRACT

Automated systems and methods for implementing and managing the submission, quote, proposal and binding stages (i.e., placement process) for securing insurance coverage.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 61/947,779 titled AUTOMATED SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR MANAGING THEPLACEMENT PROCESS FOR SECURING INSURANCE COVERAGE, which was filed onMar. 4, 2014. U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/947,779 is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present technology relates to automated systems and methods forimplementing and managing the submission, quote, proposal and bindingstages (i.e., placement process) for securing insurance coverage for aclient.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

The current placement process for securing insurance coverage of certainrisks is an onerous task for all parties involved. The stages in theplacement process typically begin by having an insurance broker identifyits client's risks that are to be insured and obtaining otherinformation concerning the client. The broker then creates a submission,which is a document identifying the client and the risks it wishes toinsure. The broker delivers the submission to one or more insuranceprovider underwriters (i.e., the market). To do so, multiple copies ofthe submission must be prepared, usually from scratch, and tailored foreach insurance provider. Once submitted, the broker waits for quotesassociated with the desired coverage from the market. Rounds ofnegotiations with the insurance providers to obtain better quotes forthe desired coverage may also occur.

Once an adequate number of quotes are received by the broker, the brokerpresents them to the client who then accepts one of the quotes. Throughadditional paperwork, the client becomes bound to the coverage based onthe quoted rate. For the most part, the placement process is a manualprocess, disjointed and in paper-based form. This process is undesirablebecause it creates long cycle times to get new or renewed insurancecoverage. Moreover, paper-based transactions are prone to errors and,due to the time it takes to prepare a submission, may limit the numberof insurance providers approached for quotes. This is also undesirable.

Thus, there is a need and desire for implementing and managing a betterplacement process for securing insurance coverage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Specific examples have been chosen for purposes of illustration anddescription, and are shown in the accompanying drawings, forming a partof the specification.

FIG. 1 illustrates a high level block diagram of the automated techniquedisclosed herein.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example mapping tool used to configure insuranceproducts for the application disclosed herein, and a dynamic renderingengine used to render the configurations for an eForms viewer inaccordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 3 depicts the rendering of a screen.

FIG. 4 illustrates a mapping portal screenshot used to define riskattributes associated with forms/templates in an embodiment of thetechnology.

FIG. 5 illustrates a product builder and provides a section view portalscreenshot used to build the product in an embodiment of the technology.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary process that may be used to build thetemplate view of the application, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe technology.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary process used for electronic carrierexchange for the submission process.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary process to identify the carrier appetiteto participate in the submission process and for routing of the renewalsubmissions.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of the disclosed mapping tool's use of“question mapping” to input information eventually stored as eLabels.

FIGS. 10-12 illustrate example “question mapping” user interface screensdisplayed in accordance with an embodiment disclosed herein.

FIGS. 13A-13C illustrate example data entry fields and controlmechanisms in accordance with an embodiment disclosed herein.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example user interface page of the eForms viewerdisclosed herein.

FIG. 15 illustrates an example user interface screen for creating andsubmitting a submission in accordance with the disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example submission output created in accordancewith the disclosed embodiments.

FIG. 17 is an example screen used in mapping a new eForm in accordancewith a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 18 illustrates an example process for onboarding new eForms inaccordance with a disclosed embodiment.

FIG. 19 illustrates an example computer system for hosting theapplication disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The technology disclosed herein provides automated systems and methodsfor implementing and managing the submission, quote, proposal andbinding stages (i.e., placement process) for securing insurance coveragefor a client.

The automated systems and methods disclosed herein allow brokingprofessionals to work with clients to build a submission for aninsurance quote on a new proprietary platform, and provide thatsubmission directly, in a digital format, to underwriters. The deliveryof that electronic submission is the initial exchange between the brokerand insurance carriers. Carrier quotes, binding documents, instructionsto bind and final policy and endorsement can also be exchanged indigital format. This new automated exchange eliminates manual dataentry, improves the tracking processes associated with managing thesubstantial exchange of information, and allows reduced response timeacross the cycle. The end result of this integration is a more efficientand effective risk transfer engagement.

FIG. 1 illustrates a high level block diagram of the automated techniquedisclosed herein. Account executives, brokers and/or account specialists(collectively referred to herein as a “broker” or “brokers”) collaborateto gather the client's risk related data and put together a submissionquote proposal, which is sent out to various markets to secure insurancecoverage for these risks. To do so, the broker accesses a computerapplication, the submission quote proposal application or platform, andbegins collecting the client's information. FIG. 1 shows the use of theapplication 100, which as described below in more detail, manages thesubmission, quote, proposal and binding stages of the placement process.Specifically, the application 100 will define a submission 102, build asubmission 104, deliver a submission 106 to any entity such as aninsurance carrier and/or intermediary 116, manage quote and declinations108, bind the submission, and initiate billing 110. In one embodiment,the application 100 is part of the broker's desktop platform andintegrates with a policy management system and the Microsoft Officesuite. As shown in FIG. 1, the application 100 accesses severaldatabases (e.g., policy administration database 112, billing database114), and a repository of risk and insurance placement information suchas e.g., AON's Global Risk Insight Platform® “GRIP,” which is identifiedat 118. AON's GRIP is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/469,355 titled STATISTICAL ANALYSIS PLATFORM FOR PREDICTING INSURANCECARRIERS MOST LIKELY TO ACCEPT A PARTICULAR TYPE OF CLIENT RISK and U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/469,331 titled GLOBAL RISK INSIGHTPLATFORM FOR INSURANCE BROKERS, which are hereby incorporated byreference. AON's GRIP provides web-accessible data to help brokersevaluate which markets will likely have an appetite for a givenplacement type and which carriers are likely to provide the best valuefor their clients. An embodiment of application or platform 100 isavailable as Aon's Carrier Link application. The application 100communicates via e-mail, facsimile and/or directly with the insurancecarriers and/or intermediaries 114 via available digital means (e.g.,through a network or Internet connection).

As will become apparent, the application 100 is an integrated platformthat allows brokers to build electronic submissions and execute tradeswith insurance markets, manage the entire new and renewal process fromsubmission development to invoicing. In addition to buildingsubmissions, the application 100 allows the broker to clone submissionsfor multiple carriers, which greatly speeds up the process by reducingthe amount of data entry for the multiple submissions. In addition, thebroker can track quotes and declinations, prepare proposals and bindclient selected quotes using the application 100. Real-time views of allplacement activity are also provided using the application's 100 userinterface (e.g., web pages). As will be appreciated, the disclosedtechnology provides a level of flexibility and personalization in asimple and efficient manner.

An individual such as an administrative user or administrator initiallyidentifies the set of risk attributes that need to be captured forsubmission and creation of each product. The system provides thecapability to define the behavior and screen rendering features of theserisk attributes.

The risk attribute that is added to the system is identified with aunique ID. Any new risk attribute being configured, if similar to anexisting risk attribute, can be mapped to it and inherit its properties.The system allows the user to create variation for a mapped riskattribute, on certain parameters, without changing the basic essence ofthe risk attribute. For example if the same risk attribute appears ondifferent submission documents with slightly different verbiage, it canbe defined once and only slight variation needs to be created for asecond instance. All the risk attributes in the system with common coreproperties are marked as a master attribute. Master attributes can beshared across products. This provides a consistent basis for theinsurance brokers to define client's risk profile and to easily inputlarge amounts of risk data.

All the risk attributes required to define a submission are grouped andorganized for a product. Variations can be created for a product basedon compliance and market needs. The configured product is then publishedfor usage.

FIG. 2 shows the portal-based system that allows brokers and others toeffectively organize, deliver, track and present, submission relatedinformation. The system provides capability to configure a product (orline of business) and onboard it into the application 100. During theconfiguration of the product, a series of steps is performed, asdescribed below. The first step is to identify the forms and templatesthat are used as submission documents for a product. These documents canbe a standard insurance document such as those provided by theAssociation for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD)that are referred to as ACORD forms and ACORD electronic forms(“eForms”), which standardized the forms used by insurance brokers,agents, companies, etc. in the United States. ACORD eForms are fillableforms that collect data that can then be extracted for reuse, includingthe population of other ACORD eForms. ACORD eForms contain a consistentXML (Extensible Markup Language) format, and unique XML tags for eachform field, which are referred to as “eLabels.” The eLabels are appliedconsistently across all ACORD eForms, which the embodiments disclosedherein take advantage of.

In addition to ACORD forms, the user can utilize other templates such asa custom or standard Word template such as those created by Aon or aform layout. The configured product is manifested into one of theseoutputs, any of which a broker can use to work on and subsequentlycomplete a submission for insurance markets. With the exception ofcustom Aon templates, forms such as the ACORD forms are standardsubmission forms that allow information to be easily shared with anyinsurance company. The form or template is electronically fillable andthe data is captured from the form or template. The system can easilyintake data and surface these forms through the application. Because alloutput formats are rendered from the same risk attribute set, the cruxof submission data captured is constant. As mentioned above, the datacaptured in a field once will surface in the same field appearingmultiple times across various forms. Additionally, data defined in anyone format is also available in the other formats.

The system provides a user interface, in the section layout, that issimilar to a web page. All the risk attributes and controls are placedon the screen. The page layout, the controls and their behavior arederived from the configurations setup. Additionally, the business rulesand validations for the web output are dynamically deduced from theconfiguration setup. Unique risk attributes may be presented to a brokerusing a view such as the Form Layout view in a Windows system.

Once the documents for a product are completed, these documents areuploaded as shown in step 201 into a mapping tool 202. This step may beperformed by anyone such as an administrator. The mapping tool 202 is autility, which stores all the configurations. Mapping tool 202 allows abusiness to configure/change risk attributes and their presentationwithout elaborate IT (information technology) development. Additionalflexibility to rollout these changes in different versions helps managechanges to these attributes.

The risk attributes are identified and saved along with the document inthe database as shown in the step identified at 213. If the submissiondocuments are provided by ACORD, then they come along with the riskattributes and properties. All the attributes are imported into theapplication. The existing risk attributes become the starting point forconfiguring the attributes for a product. The process of configuring theattributes is done using the mapping tool 202 in the step identified at203. All the risk attributes identified in the templates/forms aremapped in the tool to define the display, logical, conditional andbusiness rules of the field. The tool also provides the ability to groupand organize the attributes to create a section view. Theforms/templates that are mapped against a product are rendered from thetemplate view in the application. The steps involved in configuring theattributes are shown with detail in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5. All theconfiguration details of the attributes are pushed to a mapping database204.

Once the required documents are uploaded and the attributes are mapped,the product is published for usage in application 100. A version iscreated for the published product. Any further changes to the document,risk attributes and configuration of risk attributes are available foruse only after creating a new version of the product and publishing it.As soon as the product is published, a job is run to make the version ofthe product available for use in the application, the precompilingprocess 205. Precompiling process 205 precompiles the mapped data for aproduct version and builds a precompiled object with the business rulesand the screen rendering details. During the precompiling process 205,two files are generated for a product—the first file is a precompiledform for section view and the second file contains the business rules.The files are uploaded into a temporary document management system withadditional metadata properties like product-type, version, andapplicable forms/templates. Storing the precompiled forms, in the stepidentified at 206, enhances the performance of the application whilerendering the screen.

The forms/templates also have to be designed and uploaded to be accessedin the application. The ACORD forms are also precompiled to be renderedin the application in a viewer such as Aon's custom developed viewer.ACORD publishes the submission forms in Extensible Forms DescriptionLanguage (XFDL) format. The job precompiles the XFDL file intointermediate format rendered by the viewer. The intermediate format fileis also stored in the same document management system with other files.The word submission document needs to be designed into a template to berendered in the application. The step identified at 215 includes theprocess of designing the word template based on the risk attributesmapped in the mapping tool and the Word document. The mappingapplication provides a tool to the administrative user or administratorthat can be used to design the submission templates. The designedtemplate is also uploaded to the document management system.

When the user accesses a product in the application to complete asubmission, the three views of the application: section view, formsview, and template view are rendered. Step 220, the precompiled object,the business rules and the data are combined together to render theoutput.

Dynamic rendering engine 224 is used to render the configurations forthe eForms viewer 228 in accordance with a disclosed embodiment. TheeForms/eLabels 200 a can be configured to surface specific controls likecustom dropdowns, date controls and custom searchers for seamlessintegration with backend systems (an example of these control mechanismsare illustrated in FIGS. 13A-13C). The mapping tool 202 associates theproducts/categories identified with Table I to the appropriate eForms200 a. The information is stored in the mapping tool database 204. Ascan be appreciated, the mapping tool utility 202 provides theapplication 100 with the flexibility and adaptability to meet thechanging needs of the markets and submission requirements. Thedynamically rendering engine 224 uses the information generated by themapping tool 202 to render the mapping tool configurations in theapplication's eForms viewer and/or traditional web-based forms (i.e.,section view).

As noted above, the three modes of the dynamic rendering engine 224 mayinclude: (1) section view, (2) forms view, and (3) template view. Riskattributes in section view are classified into different sections andsimilar attributes are further grouped under different sub groups. Forforms view, risk attributes in the dynamic rendering engine are renderedon an ACORD form. ACORD provides XFDL version of the ACORD form which isfirst converted into Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) usingan offline tool that is then rendered on the trade screen. For thetemplate view, risk attributes in the dynamic rendering engine arerendered on standard word templates. These templates may be pre-designedby the business team and uploaded onto the mapping tool.

In one embodiment of a method for implementing and managing a placementprocess for obtaining insurance coverage, the method may comprise:electronically defining at least one product for a submission quoteproposal; capturing data for a set of risk attributes from at least oneform or template; electronically grouping and organizing the set of riskattributes such that the risk attributes are mapped to provide a mappedelectronic form; rendering, in a user interface on a display device, themapped electronic form in at least one view; and electronicallycapturing the set of risk attributes, by a computing device, and savingthe data with a unique identification in an electronic database in anapplication without saving the mapped electronic form. Because themapped electronic form is not saved, the application such as application100, operates much more rapidly than if the data was saved as a documentsuch that the functioning of the application is improved. Each time thata user accesses application 100 to make changes to the risk attributes,the risk attributes are saved with the unique identification in theelectronic database. After the risk attributes have been captured, thenthe computing device is used to generate at least one electronicsubmission request containing the mapped electronic form and requestinga quote for insuring at least one product based on the submission quoteproposal. The computing device is then used to deliver the at least onesubmission quote proposal to one or more organizations capable ofinsuring the one or more risks.

An example of the rendering of the screen is shown in FIG. 3. The firststep, generating section view controls includes the following sub-steps:creation of controls, finding primary sections, creating user interfaceelements, adding the created elements to a control collection, andcreating sub-sections for the primary section. After the section viewcontrols have been generated, the second step involves rendering thesections. The final step involves retrieving and binding answers. Afterthe dynamic rendering activity shown in FIG. 3 is completed, the mergedfile is then loaded on the user screen to generate the output. The usercompletes the submission by answering the risk attributes in one of thethree outputs: section view, forms or template. The answers for the riskattributes provided by the user are then pushed to the applicationdatabase.

FIG. 4 illustrates a mapping portal screenshot used to define riskattributes associated with forms/templates in an embodiment of thetechnology. The mapping function relates to configuring risk attributesthat are part of the submission document, such as a Word template or anACORD form, that is delivered to an insurance carrier for a quote. Thesubmission documents include various risk attributes that allow thecarrier to determine insurance pricing for the risk.

The mapping portal screenshot, shown in FIG. 4, is divided into severalsections. The user of the screen first identifies the form/template tobe configured. Section 401 provides the user with filter conditions toderive the form/template to be configured. All the risk attributesassociated with the selected form/template are listed in section 402.The user selects one risk attribute at a time to configure the behavior.The section allows the user to categorize the risk attributes asmapped/unmapped for a form/template. This allows the user tointermittently save the completed work and return back later.

The risk attribute to be mapped can reuse the configuration alreadydefined for a different risk attribute, if the attribute is the same andrepeated again or if the base properties are the same. Sections 403 and404 provide the functionality to search for an existing attribute. Assoon as the user selects the attribute in section 402, a fuzzy logicruns to determine if a similar attribute has been mapped earlier. Theresults of the logic are shown in section 404 with the confidence of thematch. At this point, the user can ignore the fuzzy logic search and gofor a manual search and narrow the search results. The selectedattribute configurations will be defaulted in the left most section andwill be the starting point for mapping the risk attribute.

Sections 405 to 409 capture different property details of the riskattribute that will be used to render the attribute on the application.Section 405 captures the properties required to define the riskattribute for the user on the application and uniquely identify the riskattribute. Section 405 also captures the data properties of the riskattribute. Section 406 gives additional properties to tailor theattribute and define the field behavior on the application. Usingsection 407, a user can define the user interface (UI) behavior of theattribute such as position, layout, control type, etc. Section 408 canbe used to define the business rules, validation, and conditionalbehavior of the attribute in context of the application. The attributecan be mapped with attributes of other internal systems to push or pullthe data during integration. Mapping with one or more external systemscan be completed in section 409 by building the relationship with theexternal systems.

FIG. 5 illustrates a product builder and provides a section view portalscreenshot used to build the product in an embodiment of the technology.The product builder screen is used to configure and organize the riskattributes for a product. Section 501 provides the user with filterconditions to derive the product to be configured. All the unique riskattributes associated with selected product are listed in section 502.

Section 503 provides the user with an interface to build a section or asub-section for logical grouping and organization of risk attributes.The attributes that are to be included in a section are moved fromsection 502 to section 504. The attributes in section 504 can also beorganized and re-ordered. Section 505 enables question to be listed witha section, the questions to be organized and ordered within a section.Section 505 also enables questions to be sub-grouped in the section witha header for the group.

The user can also build a general section during the building of productsections. The general section can be reused across products. Thefinalized product is then published to be rendered on the application.

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary process that may be used to build thetemplate view of the application, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe technology. FIG. 6 illustrates a process that may be used to onboardthe forms/templates and build the template view for the application fora product. The process shown in FIG. 6 may be performed by anadministrative user or administrator to setup the forms/templates.

The submission forms/templates documents are identified and uploadedinto the mapping application as shown at 601. All the risk attributescaptured in the template are added in the mapping tool. The riskattributes are then associated with the linked templates as shown at602.

The user can logically link templates based on the data capture logic asshown at 603. This will enable the data to overflow from one form toanother and conditionally enable forms based on the data captured. Thelast step in the process is map all the forms/templates required tocomplete a submission for a product. The mapped templates for a productwill be published along with section view.

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary process used for electronic carrierexchange for the submission process. The first step, identified at 701,is to map the risk attributes to the submission extensible markuplanguage (XML) file. The ACORD XML specifications are used as thestandard for communication between the carriers and the exchange 704.The mapping of the risk attributes and the XML element is maintained inthe mapping tool database 204. The standard XML request and responserequired for various submission stages are created in the mapping tooldatabase 204. The mapping tool database 204 also gives the capability tocreate a variation of the XML objects mapped based on the specificcarrier requirements.

The user completes the submission by answering the risk attributes,through the application as shown in the step identified at 702, and thedata gets stored in the database 100. Once the submission is completedand is ready for delivery the broker will initiate the delivery process.

All the submission details that are captured as part of the submissionare transformed into ACORD XML files as shown in the step identified at703. The transformation process applies the business rules and attributemapping setup to create the request/response XML files for the carrier.The XML files are then pushed to the exchange server. Based on theexchange logic used in the electronic exchange 704, in the next stepidentified at 705, the submission is electronically transmitted to oneor more carriers. This integration also facilitates the response(s) fromthe carrier(s) and consumes it into the application.

The electronic exchange 704 provides the advantage of effective deliverymechanism for submissions. This also cuts down the rekey effort oncarrier(s) and when the messages are exchanged. This process can alsofacilitate automatic quote process and increase the productivity and cutdown the overall submission processing time.

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary process to identify the carrier appetiteto route the renewal submissions to the carriers. More particularly,FIG. 8 illustrates the process to identify carrier appetite toparticipate in the submission process. The first step is identified at801, which involves identifying the policies that are expiring and needto be submitted for renewal. The application provides an interface tosetup the Registration of Interest by the carrier on the expiringpolicies. The application also provides an interface to setup thecarrier appetite parameters based on which the submission is analyzed,and appropriate carrier(s) are identified as shown at 802.

In the step identified at 803, all the renewal submissions with theRegistration of Interest are identified in the application. A submissionis created for all the carriers who have expressed interest forunderwriting the client's risk.

In the step identified at 804, submissions are analyzed by matching theclient's risk profile and coverage requirements with the appetite of thecarrier(s). In the next step, which is identified at 805, theappropriate carrier(s) are identified based on the analysis in the stepsreferenced at 803 and 804.

The submissions are prepared by the brokers by adding additionalinformation for the risk attributes. In the final step, identified at806, the submissions are delivered to one or more carrier(s).

As described above, data is captured for a set of risk attributes fromat least one form or template. Some of the risk attributes have definedbehavior and defined screen rendering features such that these riskattributes are selected in a viewer from a set of options. In oneembodiment, an eForms viewer is provided (an example page output by theviewer is shown in FIG. 14), which is used to surface ACORD eForms andeLabels to the broker to facilitate the submission creation process. Thebroker/user can decide to fill the information in the editable ACORDeForm or its equivalent “section view.” As discussed below in moredetail, the input of data into the eForms is controlled by using customsearchers, custom dropdowns and date controls on the viewer. The eLabelsassociated with the eForms are used as the foundation for initiating theconfiguration of the insurance products accessible via the application100. As discussed above, since each ACORD eLabel is uniquely mapped,certain eForm information need only be entered once and then it can bereused and rendered in other ACORD eForms. ACORD eForms are dynamicallyrendered in the application 100 (via a web based XFDL viewer referred toherein as the “eForms viewer”) based on the product configuration donein a mapping tool. In addition, built-in rules are provided to handleoverflow of information/fields used in the ACORD eForms.

The eForms viewer supports the following features: (1) two-way dataintegration (the data entered into an eForm is saved in a relationaldatabase); (2) pagination and scrolling; (3) conditional logic; (4)versioning of ACORD eForms; (5) tooltip; (6) output options (e.g., PDFoutput, printing to a physical printer, ACORD XML format); and (7)searchers, dropdowns, calendar, check boxes etc. for master data entry.Table I below lists exemplary insurance products and product categoriesthat are associated with ACORD eForms in the disclosed embodiments. Itshould be appreciated that the items in Table I are merely examples andthat the disclosed embodiments can use ACORD eForms for more insuranceproduct/product categories if desired.

TABLE I Exemplary Products and Product Categories for eForms ProductCategories Product Property Commercial Property Coverage EquipmentBreakdown Casualty General Liability Workers Compensation Business AutoFinancial Crime ERISA Bond

FIG. 9 is an illustration of the mapping tool's use of “questionmapping” to input information eventually stored as eLabels. As mentionedabove, the eLabel data is the foundation for initiating theconfiguration of the insurance products available for the application100. eLabel descriptions 900 are provided to the user. The descriptions900 associate e.g., a question ID, question name, field/display name and“tooltip” (i.e., tip as to what the eLabel information is all about). Itshould be appreciated that the unique eLabel definitions 900 reduceduplication during the mapping, which enables the quick configuration ofthe desired products. The ACORD eForms 902 are uploaded into the mappingtool 202 along with the eLabels. Once the data definition and controlbehavior of an eLabel is defined, the eLabels can be reused for otherACORD eForms and/or insurance products. The data can be stored in thedatabase 204.

The application 100 can display a list of products to be enabled. TheACORD eForms related to the products are mapped based on ACORDguidelines. As shown in FIG. 10, the ACORD eForms are uploaded into themapping tool 202 and associated with the relevant products (see e.g.,field 910 of FIG. 4). As can be seen in FIG. 11, primary and overflowACORD eForms 914 are associated with the products to provide a completeset of forms 912 for a product. The data overflow logic is configured inthe mapping tool 202. This logic enables automatic rendering of overflowforms or fields when data overflows from the primary form (e.g., when afield only has 3 entry lines, but the user has 4 pieces of informationfor that field, a new form or field is rendered to accept the additionalinformation).

FIG. 12 illustrates more “question mapping” used by the mapping tool202. As can be seen, ACORD defined e-Label properties 920 are re-used bythe Application 100. All of the questions (i.e., eLabels) that need tobe answered for completing submission for a product are identified in alist 922 shown e.g., as “mapped questions.” Additional mappings 924 aredefined to tailor the questions per the user's needs. In one embodiment,the default controls can be overridden with custom dropdowns/customsearchers and date controls (a dropdown is shown in field 926).Conditional logic 928 (shown as “conditions/dependencies) can be definedas well. Moreover, business rules and validations for completingconfigurations are defined (see e.g., field 929).

As mentioned above, the eForms viewer disclosed herein is designed withthe ability to display custom controls and custom searchers to ensuredata integrity of its backend systems. For example, the “Client Name”can only be filled in using a custom searcher. The ACORD “tooltips”guide the brokers as they create the submission, an example of which isshown in field 930, as depicted in FIG. 13A). In one embodiment, atooltip (e.g., message or instruction) will be displayed when the userplaces the cursor over one of the fields. As can be appreciated, betterdata integrity is provided through the use of the disclosed interfacewhich, includes searchers 932 (FIG. 13B), calendar control entries 934(FIG. 13C) and dropdown/pop-up menus (shown in FIG. 12).

FIG. 14 illustrates an example webpage of the eForms viewer disclosedherein. To initiate a submission for a client, a broker selects theapplicable product or products from a list 940. A list 942 of thefillable ACORD eForms associated with the selected product or productsare presented for capturing the client's risk information. As mentionedabove, the eForms viewer user interface provides the user the ability touse searchers, dropdowns, and calendar controls to complete the formaccurately. In the illustrated embodiment, the user can select thecarrier/markets (field 944) using a custom searcher. The broker/user hasthe ability to tailor the list 942 of ACORD eForms typically used forsubmissions to a specific market by selecting more eForms from a list946. Once the client information is captured for one market, thesubmission data can be cloned for additional markets using a cloneselection 948.

As shown in FIG. 15, the broker can create (see “create submission”selection 950) and deliver submissions from the application 100 tovarious insurance carriers 952 via an electronic exchange such asMicrosoft's Outlook. FIG. 16 illustrates a completed submission 204 inPDF output form. In addition to delivering a submission via email, asubmission may also be delivered and received via a network connectionas a file in submission extensible markup language.

Referring to FIG. 17, once a new version of ACORD form is uploaded inmapping tool, it analyzes the e-Labels and their corresponding mappings(see e.g., field 960). All the questions mapped in the prior version arere-mapped automatically (see e.g., field 962). New questions aredisplayed in “Unmapped Questions” section 964 for user to complete theconfiguration.

One key feature of the disclosed technology is its ability to onboardnew versions of ACORD eForms for all products in a quick and efficientmanner upon their release by the ACORD organization. FIG. 18 illustratesan example process 250 for onboarding new eForms in accordance with adisclosed embodiment. The process 250 begins by identifying the productsand corresponding eForms used by the application 100 in the stepidentified at 252. In the next step, which is identified at 254, it isdetermined whether there is a new ACORD eForm as opposed to a newversion of an existing eForm. If there is a new version, the process 250continues to another step, as identified at 256, wherein data is derivedfrom the prior version of the eForm, and changes are made to thenew/updated/deleted eLabels. The process 250 then continues to anotherstep as identified at 260. If at step 254, it is determined that a neweForm is associated with the product, the process 250 continues toanother step, as shown at 258, where the questions for the new form aremapped and a section view is created. The process 250 then continues atthe step identified at 260 which involves using process 220 to validatethe mapping of step 256 or 258, and makes any needed corrections basedon the analysis. The new eForm(s) are published to the application 100as shown at step 232 and then tested as shown at the final step,identified at 234, which ensures that there are no issues with the neweForms.

It should be appreciated that the automated technique disclosed hereinwill benefit clients seeking insurance coverage, insurance carriers andinsurance brokers. For example, clients will see improvements in policyrenewal cycle time and quality, while the shorter cycle time will insuremore rapid contract certainty. The efficiencies gained in exchanginginformation digitally will allow for greater exposure to more markets,while on-line collaboration and automation can help clients be moreeffective in their participation in the process. Carriers can bettermanage deal flow and interact with brokers at an organization levelrather than local level to drive shorter cycle times, increasedcollaboration between entities and expanded new business opportunities.The data exchange of information in standard format will lowerprocessing costs through reduced manual inputs and improvedstraight-through-processing with fewer inquiries and follow-ups. Brokerswill benefit from greater collaboration with both clients andunderwriters allowing the brokers to re-allocate resources to clientfacing and complex underwriting activities. The automation created bythis process will lead to improved cycle times and reduced frustrationfor all industry constituents.

Various examples of the present technology may be implemented withcomputing device devices, computing device networks and systems thatexchange and present information. Elements of an exemplary computingdevice system are illustrated in FIG. 19, in which the application isprovided to a user by a computing device 1000. Computing device 1000 canbe connected to a local area network (LAN) 1002 and/or a wide areanetwork (WAN) 1004. Computing device 1000 can include a centralprocessor 1010 that controls the overall operation of the computingdevice, and a system bus 1012 that connects central processor 1010 tothe components described below. System bus 1012 may be implemented withany one of a variety of conventional bus architectures.

Computing device 1000 can include a variety of interface units anddrives for reading and writing data or files. In particular, computingdevice 1000 can include a local memory interface 1014 and a removablememory interface 1016 respectively coupling a hard disk drive 1018 and aremovable memory drive 1020 to system bus 1012. Examples of removablememory drives include magnetic disk drives and optical disk drives thatreceive removable memory elements 1022. Hard disks generally include oneor more read/write heads that convert bits to magnetic pulses whenwriting to a computing device-readable medium and magnetic pulses tobits when reading data from the computing device readable medium. Asingle hard disk drive 1018 and a single removable memory drive 1020 areshown for illustration purposes only and with the understanding thatcomputing device 1000 may include several of such drives. Furthermore,computing device 1000 may include drives for interfacing with othertypes of computing device readable media such as magneto-optical drives.

Unlike hard disks, system memories, such as system memory 1020,generally read and write data electronically and do not includeread/write heads. System memory 1020 may be implemented with aconventional system memory having a read only memory section that storesa basic input/output system (BIOS) and a random access memory (RAM) thatstores other data and files.

A user can interact with computing device 1000 with a variety of inputdevices, and through graphical user interfaces provided to the user bythe computing device 1000, such as though a browser application. Forexample, FIG. 19 shows a universal serial bus (USB) interface 1022coupling a keyboard 1024 and a pointing device 1026 to system bus 1012.Pointing device 1032 may be implemented with a hard-wired or wirelessmouse, track ball, pen device, or similar device.

Computing device 1000 may include additional interfaces for connectingperipheral devices to system bus 112. FIG. 19 shows a IEEE 1394interface 1028 that may be used to couple additional devices tocomputing device 1000. Peripheral devices may include game padsscanners, printers, and other input and output devices and may becoupled to system bus 1012 through parallel ports, game ports, PCIboards or any other interface used to couple peripheral devices to acomputing device.

Computing device 1000 also includes a video adapter 1030 coupling adisplay device 1032 to system bus 1012. Display device 1032 may includea cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), field emissiondisplay (FED), plasma display or any other device that produces an imagethat is viewable by the user. A touchscreen interface 134 may beincluded to couple a touchscreen (not shown) to system buss 1012. Atouchscreen may overlay at least part of the display region of displaydevice 1032 and may be implemented with a convention touchscreentechnology, such as capacitive or resistive touchscreen technology.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that the device connections shownin FIG. 19 are for illustration purposes only and that several of theperipheral devices could be coupled to system bus 1012 via alternativeinterfaces. For example, a video camera could be connected to IEEE 1394interface 1028 and pointing device 1026 could be connected to anotherinterface.

Computing device 1000 may include a network interface 10036 that couplessystem bus 1012 to LAN 1002. LAN 1002 may have one or more of thewell-known LAN topologies and may use a variety of different protocols,such as Ethernet. Computing device 1000 may communicate with othercomputing devices and devices connected to LAN 1002, such as computingdevice 1038 and printer 140. Computing devices and other devices may beconnected to LAN 102 via twisted pair wires, coaxial cable, fiber opticsor other media. Alternatively, electromagnetic waves, such as radiofrequency waves, may be used to connect one or more computing devices ordevices to LAN 1002.

A wide area network 1004, such as the Internet, can also be accessed bycomputing device 1000. FIG. 19 shows network interface 1036 connected toLAN 1002. LAN 1002 may be used to connect to WAN 1004. FIG. 19 shows arouter 1042 that may connect LAN 1002 to WAN 1004 in a conventionalmanner. A server 1044. Mobile terminal 1046 and a computing device 1048are shown connected to WAN 1004. Of course, numerous additional servers,computing devices, handheld devices, personal digital assistants,telephones and other devices may also be connected to WAN 1004.

In some examples, a mobile network card 1050 may be used to connect toLAN 1002 and/or WAN 1004. Mobile network card may be configured toconnect to LAN 1002 and/or WAN 1004 via a mobile telephone network in aconventional manner.

The operation of computing device 1000 and server 1044 may be controlledby computing device-executable instructions stored on a non-transientcomputing device-readable medium. For example, computing device 1000 mayinclude computing device-executable instructions stored on a memory fortransmitting information to server 1044, receiving information fromserver 1044 and displaying the received information on display device1032. Furthermore, server 1044 may include stored on a memory computingdevice-executable instructions for, receiving requests from computingdevice 1000, processing data and transmitting data to computing device100. In some embodiments server 1044 transmits hypertext markup language(HTML) and extensible markup language (XML) formatted data to computingdevice 1000.

As noted above, the term “network” as used herein and depicted in thedrawings should be broadly interpreted to include not only systems inwhich remote storage devices are coupled together via one or morecommunication paths, but also stand-alone devices that may be coupled,from time to time, to such systems that have storage capability.Consequently, the term “network” includes not only a “physical network”1002 and 1004, but also a “content network,” which is comprised of thedata—attributable to a single entity—which resides across all physicalnetworks.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that although specificexamples have been described herein for purposes of illustration,various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit orscope of this disclosure. It is therefore intended that the foregoingdetailed description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting,and that it be understood that it is the following claims, including allequivalents, that are intended to particularly point out and distinctlyclaim the claimed subject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of implementing and managing a placementprocess for obtaining insurance coverage, said method comprising stepsof: electronically defining at least one product for a submission quoteproposal; capturing data for a set of risk attributes from at least oneform or template; electronically grouping and organizing the set of riskattributes such that the risk attributes are mapped to provide a mappedelectronic form; rendering, in a user interface on a display device, themapped electronic form in at least one view; electronically capturingthe set of risk attributes, by a computing device, and saving the datawith a unique identification in an electronic database in an applicationwithout saving the mapped electronic form; and generating, by thecomputing device, at least one electronic submission request containingthe mapped electronic form and requesting a quote for insuring at leastone product based on the submission quote proposal; and delivering, fromthe computing device, the at least one submission quote proposal to oneor more organizations capable of insuring the one or more risks.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the form or template is electronicallyfillable and the data is captured from the form or template.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the view is at least one of a section view, aform view, and a template view.
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising adding to the set of risk attributes, a new risk attribute,which if similar to any existing risk attribute in the set of riskattributes, is mapped to the set and inherits the properties of theexisting risk attribute.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprisingdelivering, from the computing device, the request for a quote proposalto a first organization capable of insuring the one or more risks. 6.The method of claim 5, further comprising generating, by the computingdevice, at least one electronic submission requesting a quote forinsuring one or more risks based on a clone of the submission quoteproposal; and delivering, from the computing device, the clone of thesubmission quote proposal to a second organization capable of insuringthe one or more risks.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at leastone submission is delivered, and the at least one quote is received, viaemail.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one submission isdelivered, and the at least one quote is received, via a networkconnection as a file in submission extensible markup language.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising receiving, at the computingdevice, at least one quote for insurance coverage to insure the one ormore risks.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising binding, atthe computing device, a preferred insurance coverage quote.
 11. Themethod of claim 9, further comprising the step of tracking the placementprocess by displaying, at the computing device, status informationcomprising one of the at least one submission, the at least one quote,and any declinations received from the one or more organizations.
 12. Amethod of implementing and managing a placement process for obtaininginsurance coverage, said method comprising steps of: electronicallydefining at least one product for a submission quote proposal; capturingdata for a set of risk attributes from at least one form or template,wherein some of the risk attributes have defined behavior and definedscreen rendering features such that these risk attributes are selectedin a viewer from a set of options; electronically grouping andorganizing the set of risk attributes such that the risk attributes aremapped to provide a mapped electronic form; rendering, in a userinterface on a display device, the mapped electronic form in at leastone view; electronically capturing the set of risk attributes, by acomputing device, and saving the data with a unique identification in anelectronic database in an application without saving the mappedelectronic form; and generating, by the computing device, at least oneelectronic submission request requesting a quote for insuring at leastone product based on the submission quote proposal; and delivering, fromthe computing device, the at least one submission quote proposal to oneor more organizations capable of insuring the one or more risks.
 13. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the form or template is electronicallyfillable and the data is captured from the form or template.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the user interface comprises an electronicforms viewer.
 15. The method of claim 12, further comprising adding tothe set of risk attributes, a new risk attribute, which if similar toany existing risk attribute in the set of risk attributes, is mapped tothe set and inherits the properties of the existing risk attribute. 16.The method of claim 12, wherein generating the at least one submissioncomprises generating a plurality of submissions and said method furthercomprises the step of cloning an initial submission to generateadditional submissions.
 17. The method of claim 12, wherein the at leastone submission is delivered, and the at least one quote is received, viaemail.
 18. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one submissionis delivered, and the at least one quote is received, via a networkconnection as a file in submission extensible markup language.
 19. Themethod of claim 12, further comprising receiving, at the computingdevice, at least one quote for insurance coverage to insure the one ormore risks.
 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising binding, atthe computing device, a preferred insurance coverage quote.
 21. Themethod of claim 19, further comprising the step of tracking theplacement process by displaying, at the computing device, statusinformation comprising one of the at least one submission, the at leastone quote, and any declinations received from the one or moreorganizations.
 22. A method of implementing and managing a placementprocess for obtaining insurance coverage, said method comprising stepsof: electronically defining at least one product for a submission quoteproposal; capturing data for a set of risk attributes from at least oneform or template, wherein some of the risk attributes have definedbehavior and defined screen rendering features such that these riskattributes are selected in a viewer from a set of options;electronically grouping and organizing the set of risk attributes suchthat the risk attributes are mapped to provide a mapped electronic form;rendering, in a user interface on a display device, the mappedelectronic form in at least one view, wherein the view is at least oneof a section view, a form view, and a template view; electronicallycapturing the set of risk attributes, by a computing device, and savingthe data with a unique identification in an electronic database in anapplication without saving the mapped electronic form; and generating,by the computing device, at least one electronic submission requestrequesting a quote for insuring at least one product based on thesubmission quote proposal; and delivering, from the computing device,the at least one submission quote proposal to one or more organizationscapable of insuring the one or more risks.
 23. The method of claim 22,wherein the form or template is electronically fillable and the data iscaptured from the form or template.
 24. The method of claim 22, whereinthe user interface comprises an electronic forms viewer.
 25. The methodof claim 22, further comprising adding to the set of risk attributes, anew risk attribute, which if similar to any existing risk attribute inthe set of risk attributes, is mapped to the set and inherits theproperties of the existing risk attribute.
 26. The method of claim 22,wherein generating the at least one submission comprises generating aplurality of submissions and said method further comprises the step ofcloning an initial submission to generate additional submissions. 27.The method of claim 22, wherein the at least one submission isdelivered, and the at least one quote is received, via email.
 28. Themethod of claim 22, wherein the at least one submission is delivered,and the at least one quote is received, via a network connection as afile in submission extensible markup language.